Sunday, November 30, 2008

Conjunction Junction



Spectacular Conjunction

Tonight, a slender 10% crescent Moon will leap up from the horizon to join the super-bright Venus and Jupiter.

Tomorrow, Dec. 1st, will be the best night of all. The now-15% crescent Moon moves in closer to form an isosceles triangle with Venus and Jupiter as opposing vertices. The three brightest objects in the night sky will be gathered so tightly together, you can hide them all behind your thumb held at arm's length.

So get out there people, and look up.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is Cubetabulous!

If you look carefully, as in steadily, through good glass, a Telescope is best of course, but good quality binoculars or a spotting scope (hello long range tactical people) you can see the moons that orbit Jupiter.

Jupiter is the smaller appearing of the two visible planets but, as all readers of this blog surely know, it is far larger and far more distant than venus.

Anyway, look carefully, and early as it appears about 45 degrees above the southwest horizon at my latitude (not saying!!!) shortly after sundown and descends further west and out of view fairly early.

Weather blows here tonight but it should clear up for tomorrow.

Good luck and don't forget to tell how many moons you can see.

Queequeg

Chuck said...

One advantage to daylight savings time is that it is dark when I go to work in the morning. The skies have been clear making for a great walk to my garage in the morning.

Gifted Typist said...

fantastic, thank you, I love this stuff.

Always On Watch said...

I hope that it clears off so that I can see this tomorrow night!

EDGE said...

I'll have to give that a go. Can't see much tonight...RAIN!

Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!

Ken Albin said...

Rain tonight. Hopefully it will clear tomorrow and I can take my telescope out to look as well.

Jan said...

thanks for the reminder. I love to show my grandchildren the starry nights.

Brooke said...

Maaaaan, I hope our cloud cover blows off!

cube said...

QQ: Too much cloud cover for us tonight. Couldn't see squat.

chuck: Watch your step ;-)

gifted typist: Glad you liked it.

AOW: Me too.

edge: Rain, rain, go away. I hear ya. It looks promising for Monday night.

Our Thanksgiving was outstanding. My extended family gathered, my mom has recuperated very nicely from recent surgery, and there was plenty of good food.

ken albin: Hoping for clear skies myself. I'd have a telescope if I didn't have so many city lights surrounding me.

jen: You're welcome. I'm happy when I bring a little science into everybody's life, especially the kiddies.

Anonymous said...

I did! I did! Isn't that GREAT?

Thanks,

cube said...

mustang: Yay! Good for you.

I went out at 6PM and only the moon was visible. I set the timer for 6:15 PM and the clouds had moved along and we got a great view. That's when I ran inside the house and called to my daughters. We took some pictures, but for some reason, Jupiter kept coming out so faint you could barely see it. I have a lot to learn about photography.

Mantha said...

ooh! ooh! ooh! I saw it tonight! It was gorgeous! Very cool. :-)

Anonymous said...

Thanks Cube, this is cool, too many lights in the city though for me to see it though. Stars are cool.

any two stars
are light years apart
- bracket with fingers
.

Gifted Typist said...

OMG, I saw it tonight in the car with the kids, quite by accident.
IT was so clear and I pointed it out to the kids who were thrilled. You couldn't help but notice it in the sky, but as soon as I saw it I knew what it was from your post.

Thanks for the heads up.

cube said...

salubrina: It was. Lately, we've been trying to spot the moons around Jupiter. It's got a bunch.

USpace: We've got a lot of light action here as well. I'd love to get out in the country some day, but for now, I'm here and I do the best I can.

Gifted Typist: You made my blogger heart very happy when I read your comment. I love it when I'm helpful with science instruction, especially when it involves the kiddies. Thanks for sharing.